Febo Moniz

Febo (or Febos) Moniz was a "Semilher do Corpo" and a valet of King Sebastian of Portugal and his Major Chamberlain and Gentleman of his Chamber. He was also the Lord of the Chapel of Our Lady of Piety at the Carmo Convent, in Lisbon. He was a great-grandson of Vasco Gil Moniz and wife Eleonore de Lusignan, daughter of Phoebus de Lusignan.

Life

He was the Procurator of Lisbon from the Nobility to the Courts made at Almeirim by King Henry of Portugal about the succession of the realm, in which he showed his patriotism defending the cause of the Portuguese heir to the Throne, Catherine, Duchess of Braganza, by which he became celebrated.

Marriage and issue

Married to his relative Dona Isabel de Lima, daughter of Dom Pedro de Castelo-Branco (a distant relative of Luís Vaz de Camões) and wife Margarida de Lima, he had seven children:
* Pedro Moniz, who died unmarried and without issue a captive at Fes
* Jerónimo Moniz, second son, who served at Tangiers and after widowed went to Flanders with the Cardinal and married to Elvira de Alarcão, daughter of Gaspar de Torres and wife Leonor de Alarcão, and a widow without issue of Sebastião da Silva, and had four children of his marriage and one bastard daughter:
** Febo (or Febos) Moniz or Febo (or Febos) Moniz de Lusignan or Febo (or Febos) Moniz de Torres e Lusignan, married to Filipa Coutinho, daughter of André Gonçalves Ribafria, "Alcaide-Mór" of Sintra, and wife Dona Luísa or Leonor de Albuquerque e Castro, of the Counts de Penamacor, and had one daughter:
*** Luísa or Leonor Moniz or Leonor de Torres e Lusignan, Heiress to the House of her father, married to her second cousin Francisco de São-Paio, 9th Lord de Vila Flor and other more Villages of his Estate frontier in Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro and Governor of the Arms of the same Province, and by her he inherited the Chapel of Our Lady of Piety of the Carmo Convent of Lisbon and the Majorat annexed to it, and had issue (see below)
** "Frei" Martim or Martinho Afonso Moniz, who became a Friar of the Carmel
** Mariana de Alarcão, married to her cousin Luís de Torres, without issue
** "Soror" Leonor de Alarcão, a Nun at Santa Clara, in Lisbon
** "Soror" ... (bastard), a Nun at Santa Clara, in Lisbon
* João Moniz, who was a Page of the Bell of King Sebastian of Portugal and was held captive at the Battle of Alcacer Quibir, and had a Command at the Order of Christ, the one of Sabugal, and died unmarried and without issue
* Maria Luísa or Antónia da Silva, Dame of Queen Catherine of Habsburg, married as his second wife to Francisco (or António) de São-Paio de Melo or de Melo de São-Paio, 7th Lord de Vila Flor and "Alcaide-Mór" de Moncorvo who succeeded in his father's House at the death of his brothers (later married with Dona Filipa de Sousa or de Meneses, widow with issue of António de Moura of the Lords de Póvoa e Meadas, daughter of Dom Francisco de Sousa, Captain of the Guard, and wife Luísa de Sousa, by whom he had a son Manuel de São-Paio who married a daughter of Fernão de Mendonça and wife and died without issue at the Battle of Alcacer Quibir), only child of António de Melo de São-Paio, 6th Lord de Vila Flor and Commander of the Order of Christ at the Command do Rio Torto, and wife Dona Maria de Noronha of the Counts de Abrantes, and had issue:
** Manuel de São-Paio, 8th Lord de Vila Flor and other Villages of his Estate and a Commander, married to Filipa de Castro, daughter of Cristóvão Juzarte, Lord of the Majorat da Azinhaga, and wife Joana de Castro, and had issue:
*** Francisco de São-Paio, 9th Lord de Vila Flor and other more Villages of his Estate frontier in Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro and Governor of the Arms of the same Province, married to his second cousin Luísa or Leonor Moniz or Leonor de Torres e Lusignan, Heiress to the House of her father (see above), and by her he inherited the Chapel of Our Lady of Piety of the Carmo Convent of Lisbon and the Majorat annexed to it, and had issue, an only son:
**** Manuel António de São-Paio or Manuel de São-Paio Melo e Castro, 10th Lord de Vila Flor and other more Villages of his Estate, married firstly to Dona Maria Rosa de Portugal, daughter of Dom Luís de Almeida, 1st Count de Avintes, Captain of Tangiers and Governor of Algarve, and wife and relative Dona Isabel de Castro, both of the Counts de Abrantes but him through bastardy, without issue, and secondly to Joana Antónia or Joana Luísa de Távora (baptized at Santa Catarina, Lisbon, December 27, 1666), daughter of João de Saldanha de or e Sousa, Lord of the Majorat de Oliveira, Lord of the Majorat da Azinhaga and Lord of the Majorat de Barcarena, and wife Inês Antónia de Távora, of the Lords of the Majorat de Oliveira, and had issue, an only son:
***** Francisco José de São-Paio e Castro or Francisco de São-Paio Melo e Castro, 11th Lord de Vila Flor and other Villages of his Estate, 40th Viceroy and 66th Governor of India, who died in office at the Palace da Casa da Pólvora in São Pedro, Islands of Goa, on July 13, 1723, married on June 15, 1698 to his first cousin Dona Jerónima de Bourbon (d. December 28, 1719), daughter of Dom António de Almeida, 2nd Count de Avintes and Governor of Algarve, and wife Dona Maria Antónia de Bourbon, of the Counts dos Arcos, and sister of Dom Tomás de Almeida, 1st Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon, and had issue, an only son:
****** Manuel António de São-Paio or Manuel António de São-Paio de Lusignan (June 12, 1699 – July 13, 1746), 12th Lord de Vila Flor and more of his father's House, married on June 8, 1713 to his first cousin and twice cousin Dona Vitória Josefa de Bourbon, daughter of Dom Luís de Almeida Portugal, 3rd Count de Avintes and a Commander of the Order of Christ, and wife Dona Joana Josefa Antónia de Lima, of the Viscounts de Vila Nova de Cerveira, and had issue, who represents the line, the de São-Paio Melo e Castro Moniz e Torres de Lusignan "Lords de Vila Flor Counts and Marquesses de São-Paio"
*** Others, who died young and without issue
*** António de São-Paio, who was lost at the Coast of France in the Armada of Dom Manuel de Meneses, unmarried and without issue
** Maria da Silva, unmarried and without issue
** Febo (or Febos) Moniz de São-Paio, Commander of the Order of Christ, unmarried, had a natural son:
*** Jerónimo Moniz, a Clergyman, without further notice
* "Soror" Maria Catarina, alias, Margarida da Silva, a Nun at Santa Clara, in Lisbon
* "Soror" Violante or Maria Violante da Silva, a Nun at Santa Clara, in Lisbon
* Ana or Maria Ana de Ataíde, married to Heitor de Melo, bastard son of Martim Afonso de Melo, without issue

References

* Manuel João da Costa Felgueiras Gaio, "Nobiliário das Famílias de Portugal", Tomo Vigésimo Primeiro, Título de Monizes, § 17, § 18 e § 19, Tomo Vigésimo Sexto, Título de Sampayos, § 1
* Various Authors, "Armorial Lusitano", p. 370-2, Lisbon, 1961
* Dom Augusto Romano Sanches de Baena e Farinha de Almeida Portugal Sousa e Silva, 1.º Visconde de Sanches de Baena, "Archivo Heraldico-Genealógico", Volume II, p. CXV, Lisbon, 1872
* Cristóvão Alão de Morais, "Pedatura Lusitana", Volume I (reformulated edition), p. 668-70